| Summary : House, built in 1650 for Adam and Margaret Mort, with extensive additions to rear in the early and late 19th century. Of rendered brick and brick with stone dressings and slate roof, it is of 5 x 3 bays with 3 storeys. The 19th century ranges which make up the quadrangle are largely of two storeys and continue to use mullioned windows and vernacular motifs. The elevation consists of gabled crosswings which project to either side of the house-part, a three-storey porch within the left angle and an additional bay to the left. The porch bay has a studded, cross-boarded door with Doric columns, an open pediment and a fanlight. Each crosswing has a canted three-storey high bay window with enlarged openings on the ground floor. Otherwise the majority of the double-chamfered stone mullion windows appear to be unaltered (on the front only). The rear is an extension of early 19th century date as is the four-bay wing to rear right which includes a chapel at first floor level. The other two sides of the quadrangle are in stock brick, of late 19th century, and include a coach house. The interior, though altered on the lower storeys, retains many original and Regency features including an inglenook fireplace in the left room, beams and elaborate Gothick door surrounds and doors. After the sale of the Mort estate in 1889 the house stood empty for over three years before it was sold in 1893 to the Leigh Local Board for use as a hospital for infectious diseases. In 1894 four isolation blocks for scarlet and typhoid fevers were built and the house was used as a nurses home and administrative unit. When the hospital closed in 1991, the buildings were adopted by the Morts Astley Heritage Trust and have now been fully renovated for office use. |
More information : (SD 6986 0088) Dam House (NR). (1)
Dam House - "Adam Mort had acquired early in 1595 ... the estate of Dam House in Tyldesley". At the end of the 19th c the named was changed to Astley Hall, and the house and grounds were sold to Leigh Urban Council for use as a sanatorium. (2)
Astley Hall now part of a general hospital. Modern building no trace of original Dam House. (3)
II* Astley Hospital,
- Dam House
1650 administrative portion. 3 storeys, stone, with gables and mulliontransome splay-bay windows. Brick, rendered with gray grit. Moulded stone tablet above entrance inscribed"- Erected by, Adam Mort and Margaret Mort 1650. Stone doorcase has Doric columns, open pediment, and an arched fan. Massive projecting chimney. Gabled porch, with studded cross-boarded entrance door. Interior includes beams with wide stopped ovolo - mouldings, Jacobean dado panelling, doors with 6 fielded panels, 2-panel doors with strap hinges. Cellars have brick groined vaulting. Altered staircases. Formerly Astley Hall, manor house of Astley, home of the Mort family. Victoria History, volume III. (4)
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